Drivers: Another Try

So, I have two early versions of a query. The first one I wrote just recently. It's short. (And I'm almost done with the first draft of the book.)

Ash had nothing to lose when he took the job. He wanted to die, and it sounded like a good way to go, hidden inside a supposedly driverless robotic vehicle fighting in a foreign war. Speed, guns, explosions and all that. 

But Ash is better at staying alive than he thought. Since meeting Zephyr—since falling in love with her—he also has a lot more to lose. 

And he'll lose it all unless he and Zephyr can escape from two armies, a corporate security team, and their own inner demons.  

Aside from their desperate new love of life and each other, they don't have much to work with:  Zephyr's brains, Ash's photography skills, and a cell phone with no service.

And the following is what I wrote before I wrote the actual novel. I thought that one up there ^ was much better, but this one has a lot going for it:

Ash is trapped in a dead-end job, but he’s changed his mind about dying. He’s basically a suicide bomber. Not the terrorist, strap-a-bomb-around-your-chest sort of bomber. He works for an American security contractor, driving a heavily armed vehicle on missions too dangerous for soldiers.  

Too dangerous for anyone, actually. That’s why the vehicles are supposed to be unmanned, computer controlled. No one on the outside even knows Ash and his fellow drivers are inside the armed robotic vehicles. 

Yeah. And he works for the good guys. 

Ash signed up for the suicide mission. He wanted to die, anyway. Speed, guns, and explosions sounded like a good way to go. 

That was before he met Zephyr, another driver. She understands him. She even cares about him. After they both survive their first operation, Ash wants his life back. Then he and Zephyr run up against the downside of their employee agreement. 

They can't quit. 

They know too much, and a lot of money and criminal charges ride on keeping  the company’s secrets. With a fifty percent survival rate per operation, odds aren’t good they’ll make it through another. 

Their only escape is locked inside a robot with a hair-trigger self-destruct—a mobile arsenal that everyone thinks is unmanned and will be told is out of control.

Now, if you don't mind, tell me:  Which one gets you most excited to read the book? Are there pieces of the other you'd like to see grafted into your favorite? Have you ever made a root beer float with chocolate ice cream?